Just got my ticket! Woo-Hoo! Are any other NW or DL folks planning to take the flight?

From the employee site:

Northwest/Delta employees and retirees will be able to participate in the Boeing farewell celebration next month for the 747-200, which has been in service for more than 40 years.

NW has arranged a special charter flight as a tribute to the 747-200 retirement celebration at Boeing’s Museum of Flight in Seattle. Ship 6624, one of the last passenger Boeing 747-200s in the pre-merger Northwest fleet, will depart from Minneapolis/St. Paul to Seattle on Oct. 2 at 5:00pm for the retirement celebration the next day in SEA. The return flight will depart SEA at 10:00am on Sunday morning Oct. 4 bound for MSP. Coach seats on the charter flight will be available for the first 350 active or retired employees who purchase a $40 event ticket on the retirement party Web site, which can be accessed via DeltaNet or via Radar.

So, what happens to the plane afterward? Is it going to the museum, or simply to the scrapman?
Wish it could be preserved. I take that back- I WISH it could go on flying; I'd SETTLE for it being preserved.

I'll be working the event at one of the displays except onboard the aircraft as i'm non-current at present. But i'll be working there probably for the Friday when the aircraft arrives at BFI and the Saturday event

Quoting FlyDeltaJets87 (Reply 10):I won't be on the flight but I will be at the ceremony in Seattle on Saturday. Former A.netter FlyNavy is a DL employee and is sponsoring me to go. He and I will be there.

DL has a long history of honoring aircraft when retiring the last of a type from service. I can recall similar events (both revenue and non-revenue) for the last DC-8, DC9, DC-10, 727, 767-200 and L-1011.

Interestingly, the DC-10 has been retired twice (original DL DC-10's retired in the 1970's and then the ex-Western DC-10s retired in the late 1980's. Now the 747 will also be retired twice (or 3 times depending on whether you count the 742 and 744 separately).

Quoting DL747400 (Reply 17):Interestingly, the DC-10 has been retired twice (original DL DC-10's retired in the 1970's and then the ex-Western DC-10s retired in the late 1980's. Now the 747 will also be retired twice (or 3 times depending on whether you count the 742 and 744 separately).

And when the time comes (hopefully not for a loooooong time) the DC-9 will be retired twice as well.

"But this airplane has 4 engines, it's an entirely different kind of flying! Altogether"

I just finished a charter from NUE on 6624, thursday morning. The aircraft will continue to fly until the end of November and then be officially retired. Two 747-400 will then be transferred to the charter ops for MAC charters.

Hey Jetjack74, nice pics. I was on the flight into BFI. Man the whole plane was alive, people moving everywhere and talking to everyone. What a thril.l I went from tail to nose. Upstairs even, on that famed spiral staircase. Hope to catch you tommorrow. I know about you said you'll be there. Are you riding out on the 742 Sunday by chance?

Tchau

DA-

They don't call em' emergencies anymore. They call em' Patronies.

25 Alexchao
: I happened to drive past Boeing Field yesterday, and I caught a photo of the beautiful airplane. Now I know why it was there... http://twitpic.com/k3o

26 Par13del
: This is why we can be glad that in the last govt. stimulus no airlines received any funds, imagine the noise if they had and this "trip" became public

27 Transpac787
: Considering it wasn't executive bonuses or wasteful spending, I doubt there would be any outrage over it... It was a public event for employee morale

28 FlyDeltaJets87
: Nice pics. I'll get some of mine up tomorrow if I get a chance. I just got home from flying across the country all day. PS: It was great meeting you